Obama heads to Canada this morning, supposedly for meetings with government officials and not, in fact, so he can change his identity and disappear, à la Jason Bourne. The White House claims he will be back in the U.S. by tonight. We'll believe it when we see it. So what's on the agenda in Ottawa? Trade and the environment. As The Fix points out, trade is a tricky issue for the new president. Obama was somewhat critical of NAFTA during the Democratic primaries but has softened his rhetoric since then; he seems unlikely to say or do anything today that would worry America's largest trading partner.

On the environment, the tar sands present a similarly delicate topic of discussion. Environmentalists complain about the greenhouse gases and toxic waste created by extracting oil from the tar sands, but the U.S. does import a huge amount of Canadian oil and our neighbor doesn't particularly want to hear Obama condemn such a vital industry. In an interview yesterday with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Obama signaled that he plans to smooth over differences between the two countries on the issue, pointing out that the U.S. -- "the Saudi Arabia of coal" -- has its own problems ahead balancing environmental and economic concerns. (By the way, 90 percent of Americans view Canada favorably. Take that, North Korea!)
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Comments

PRES OBAMA, YOU CAN RUN BUT YOU CANNOT HIDE! WHEN DO YA THINK YOU WILL STAY AT THE WHITE HOUSE TO TAKE CARE OF THE PEOPLE OF THE USA? YOU FLEW HOME TO GET A HAIR CUT AND TAKE YOUR, MRS OUT TO EAT, THEN YOU SIGNED THE STIMULIS IN DENVER?NOW YOU FLEW OUT OF THE COUNRTY, (CANADA) ANOTHER WASTED TRIP PAID FOR BY US HARD WORKING MIDDLE CLASS!TIME TO DO YOUR JOB, YOU STILL HAVE'NT FINISHED YOUR CABINET??YOU NEED TO GET YOUR PRIORITIES STRAIGHT, PLAYING WITH YOUR NEW FOUND TOYS(AIR FORCE ONE) THE HELICOPTER) WHAT NEXT, WILL WE HAVE AN INVITE TO YOUR ONCE A WEEK COCTAIL PARTY AT THE WHITE HOUSE? NAY, WE DON'T FIT IN, WE WORK FOR OUR PAY!

Posted by: JBRACALE | February 19, 2009 7:42 PM

Golly!

The Messiah took an exotic and distant Trip to the Foreign Country of Canada!

Even though he flew in(At great expense on the poor tax-Payers);

Did he just catch a cab back across to Chicago? ;~)

Posted by: SAINT---The | February 19, 2009 6:43 PM

Sometimes snark is best verbal...

Posted by: edwardaggie98 | February 19, 2009 6:17 PM

The sharks smell blood again...I can almost hear the music to jaws in my head...snicker.

Posted by: Daylo1 | February 19, 2009 1:04 PM

I get this article. It is supposed to be humorous. He has a lot of troubles to confront, and old Ben (who by the way is a dyed-in-wool liberal) decided it would make a catchy headline. Tongue-in-cheek, you know. Guess his usual audience didn't "get it".

Libs are so freakin' touchy.

If this same article had been written about Bush, they would have accused him of shirking his duties and actually leaving the country.

It's so hilarious to see the feathers get ruffled around here.

Posted by: Daylo1 | February 19, 2009 1:00 PM

insolent fools, Obama will deal with you when He returns

Posted by: foobar2 | February 19, 2009 12:17 PM

Like Most Americans,

Mr. Pershing is not aware that our largest single import source for oil and gas resources is Canada, not Saudi Arabia.

That knowledge of that alone puts our foreign policy in the "everything you know is wrong" category.

Like most Americans he is also not aware that we get special terms for importing energy under NAFTA.

The trade relationship with Canada is much bigger than you think.

The Bush Admin. never forgave the Chretien government for declining support of the Iraq war and Canada got stiffed by US trade policy in return.

Obama has to go north to mend some fences.

Posted by: JohnQuimby | February 19, 2009 11:37 AM

What an idiotic post - he is going on a day trip to discuss trade issues with one of our biggest trade partners and he's fleeing? Maybe WAPO should reconsider what columns it is cutting to save money...

WHAT IS THE U.S. TREASURY DEPARTMENT ROLE in these programs -- and has the IRS been used to decimate family finances of wrongly "targeted" American citizens? Could this be a root cause of the mortgage meltdown that led to the global economic crisis? Are you investigating?

***

What Sen. Leahy knows, Team Obama must IMMEDIATELY confront -- because the victims continue to suffer.

Yes, I am sure President Obama is so terrified of his job that he's going a whole 50 miles away from the United States so he can finally have some peace and quiet.

Come on. What a way to editorialize and paint the President as somehow out of his depth. Given President Obama's recent actions, I'd say he's taking things head on. He's not fleeing, he's leading. (And don't you think it might be good for our economy to visit our largest trading partner?)